Inquiry finds crash pilot's choices 'less than ideal'

THE pilot of an aircraft who died along with his passenger when it crashed in a Sydney suburban street did not make "ideal" decisions after an engine malfunctioned, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said yesterday.

The ATSB released its final report into the fatal 2010 crash of a Piper Navaho twin-engined aircraft which killed pilot Andrew Wilson, 27, and his passenger, nurse Kathy Sheppard, 48.

Witnesses had reported hearing spluttering noises coming from the aircraft's engine moments before it struck a power pole about 6km short of Bankstown Airport.

"There was an engine problem, probably to do with fuel management, which led to surging and the close-down of one engine," ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan said.

Because the wreckage was badly damaged by fire, it was difficult for investigators to determine exactly what happened leading up to the crash.

But after examining maintenance records, running tests on identical aircraft and examining what was salvaged from the crash site, Mr Dolan said he was "reasonably confident" it wasn't maintenance related.

There were no issues with Mr Wilson's training, despite concerns about the company the pilot worked for, raised three years ago by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Mr Dolan said. He said Mr Wilson's decisions about what to do when the engine failed "weren't ideal". "He didn't get the best performance out of the aircraft in a situation where performance is really important," he said.